THIS JUST IN

NEW YORK - Wayne Gretzky reached another milestone Thursday night when he scored his 1,071st goal as a pro.

The goal in the New York Rangers' game against the Vancouver Canucks tied Gretzky with Gordie Howe, who scored that total in his combined 26-year career in the NHL and old World Hockey Association including regular season and playoffs. Gretzky is in his 21st pro season.

Gretzky, who broke Howe's NHL career-goal-scoring record on March 23, 1994, against Vancouver, had 56 goals in the WHA with Indianapolis and Edmonton to go along with his regular season and playoff total 1,015 in the NHL.

Gretzky's latest achievement is not considered a record by the NHL, since the league does not recognize the WHA in its record books.

* GOLF

Two-way tie for lead after one round at Pebble Beach

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - It's a wonder anyone noticed that Greg Kraft and Brett Quigley each posted a 6-under-par 66 to share the first-round lead in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

While everyone else watched David Duval shoot nothing close to a 59 and ho-hum rounds by Tiger Woods and Mark O'Meara in their dream pairing with Kevin Costner and Ken Griffey Jr., a couple of guys who have never won on the PGA Tour got off to a nice, quiet start Thursday.

Kraft and Quigley both started on No. 10 at Pebble Beach on a crisp day with a slight breeze. Both picked up most of their birdies on the more difficult back side and played bogey-free for a one-stroke lead over Peter Jacobsen.

Pebble Beach is usually the toughest of three courses because it is more exposed to the winds blowing in off the Monterey Peninsula. The winds were relatively kind Thursday, and it showed - six of the top nine scores came on Pebble Beach.

Peter Jacobsen made eagle on his ninth hole, one of five par-5s at Poppy Hills, in his round of 67. Charles Raulerson had the best score at Spyglass Hill, a 68 that left him tied with five others.

The group at 69 included Paul Azinger, Corey Pavin, Payne Stewart and PGA champion Vijay Singh.

Duval, whose ninth victory in the past 16 months came two weeks ago with a final-round 59 in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, had a good chance to be among the leaders at Spyglass Hill, his least favorite of the courses.

He hit a 3-wood from 245 yards into 12 feet for an eagle on No. 11, but bogeyed two of the next three holes and finished with a three-putt bogey for a 72.

* GAMBLING

Bookies didn't have such a bad Super Bowl after all

LAS VEGAS - Bookies didn't end up having such a bad Super Bowl after all, though a decision by Dan Reeves caused some sports books to take a loss on the game.

Figures released Thursday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board showed the state's legal sports books eked out a profit of nearly $3 million on the game on total betting of $75,986,520.

The amount wagered was just under last year's record of $77.3 million, but bookies made a 3.8 percent profit on this year's game, up from 0.6 percent a year ago.

"It's still a wonderful handle," said Pete Korner, operations manager for Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which sets the odds for most major sports books.

"The end result is comparable to some good days we've had in the past."

Korner said the decision by Reeves to go for a 2-point conversion with just over two minutes left in the game may have been the difference between some sports books making a profit or taking a loss.

The conversion failed, and with it so did the chances of some books to make money on betting on the total points scored in the game.

* COLLEGE FOOTBALL

WSU signs one more recruit

PULLMAN - Faafetai Tupai of Monterey, Calif., on Thursday became the latest high school football player to sign with Washington State University.

Tupai is a 6-foot-4, 298-pound defensive lineman out of Monterey High School who had been highly rated by several recruiting agencies.

Tupai will enroll at WSU in the fall.

He is the 20th player who signed a letter-of-intent to play for the Cougars since Wednesday.

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